Mikel Arteta handed unlikely injury boost as he names Arsenal XI for Newcastle clash

Arsenal travel to Newcastle on Saturday for a crucial clash in the Premier League title race, with Mikel Arteta being handed a welcome boost ahead of the trip to the Magpies

Gabriel has recovered from injury to take his place beside William Saliba for Arsenal's trip to Newcastle.

David Raya will start in goal, with Saliba and Gabriel starting at centre-back together for the first time since the defeat to Bournemouth. Thomas Partey and Jurrien Timber are the two full-backs.

Ahead of them Declan Rice partners Mikel Merino as the two holding midfielders. In the front-line, Leandro Trossard continues in the No.10 role, with Bukayo Saka on the right, Gabriel Martinelli on the left and Kai Havertz up front.

Ben White has been relegated to a place on the bench, alongside Neto, Jakub Kiwior, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Jorginho, Raheem Sterling, Ethan Nwaneri and Gabriel Jesus. The news that Gabriel will start is a huge boost for Mikel Arteta, after the defender was forced off with injury during last week's draw with Liverpool.

Saliba meanwhile had been suspended for that top of the table clash after being sent off against the Cherries. Speaking before the game, Arteta conceded that Gabriel had been unable to train until Friday's session.

"We have a training session today. If he can complete that, he’ll be available. He hasn’t had any training sessions yet, but if he’s able to do that today, he’ll be available to be in the squad," he said on Friday.

"I think there are two aspects - one, we've been quite unlucky with some of them and especially to happen in very similar positions, and then obviously the demands that those players are having every every week. If you put that into perspective as well, you have a smaller squad because all the restrictions that are hitting all the clubs which means you cannot have 30 quality players in the squad.

"The moment one player has to play more minutes affects them and there’s a knock-on effect for the rest of squad, which is quite difficult to manage. The league position after nine games is very tricky when you see the fixtures that they’ve had as well and certain situations that they’ve been through as well, but they’re a fantastic team.

"They’re really well coached, they’re very intense. It’s a great stadium to play in, you know what you’re going to face there, so we're looking forward to it. You want to be first, you want to win every game. We know the situations that we have to play with this season, but we’re right in the mix. We know the tough challenge that we’re going to face tomorrow, but we’re fully ready for that."